FENCE FOES GO TO BEACH COMPLAINTS EXPECTED TO BE AIRED AT MEETING

"This ain't going to stop me," Wells, 29, said as he pointed to the prison- like barbed wire fence erected Friday to keep people from swimming and drowning at the Boynton Beach Inlet's north beach.

He walked through a private yard to get to the inlet instead.

As petition-waving protesters are expected to tell the fence-erecting South Lake Worth Inlet District at a meeting at 5 p.m. today , neither jagged fences, nor posted signs, nor verbal warnings will stop diehards from finding some way to get on the beach -- the site of two drownings since March.

Beachgoers jumped from boats to get to the beach Sunday, onlookers say.

Some climbed a nearby concrete fence to get there.

Others, like Wells, illegally cut through private yards.

"This is a nice beach," Wells explained, then pointed to what he calls an inferior beach, the inlet's southern beach, which is lined with slippery shoreline rocks.

"I feel like this is all wrong," he said of the fence. "It looks like a concentration camp or something. Look at that."

The $7,200, 8-foot-tall fence is an emotional issue -- one that has drawn more than 1,000 signatures of protest since the fence was erected four days ago at the inlet, said organizer Wanda LaCount. Protesters say the beach, paid for by taxpayers, is now fenced off from its owners. It also is a free beach that they enjoy.

"A lot of families and their kids have grown up here around the inlet. They just think that this is a really drastic measure to take," LaCount said. "I've raised five stepchildren down here and none of them have come close to drowning.

"There's enough strong sentiment here to say, 'Hey, you better take a good look at this,' " said LaCount, who plans to present the petition at today's district meeting.

District commissioners voted two weeks ago to put up the fence as a last- ditch effort to keep people from drowning at the inlet, the site of two drownings and numerous close calls since March.

"No swimming" signs were ignored, said Commissioner Chuck Potter.

Thelma Moore, a former commissioner for eight years and a candidate in the September election, said she opposes the fence.

"How many drownings have we had in the last 20 years? In the last 10 years?" she said. "Are they going to ban alcohol now because of all the alcohol-related deaths from highway accidents?"

Ken Watts, a locksmith who recently moved to the area, says the inlet is the only beach he's ever visited.

"It's quiet," he says.

Watts plans to attend today's meeting, where other protesters vow to appear.

The meeting will be held at the pavilion, on the west side of State Road A1A.

The fence costs one-third less than a full-time lifeguard, Potter said. The fence stretches from the northern property line to the dredge, Potter said.